Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
__TOC__ Real Name: Dr. Henry Philip McCoy Nicknames: Hank, Magilla Gorilla, Golden Armed Boy Former Aliases: Kreature Other Current Aliases: No other known current aliases Status Occupation: Currently Xavier Institute Science and Math Instructor, formerly Adventurer, Biochemist and College Lecturer Education: Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Xavier Institute Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record Identity: (formerly) Secret, (currently) known Marital Status: Single Group Affiliation: Currently X-Men, formerly X-Factor, Avengers, Defenders Base of Operations: Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York Origin Henry McCoy is a mutant, born with his special powers. Place of Birth: Dunfee, Illinois Known Relatives: Norton (father), Edna (mother), Robert (uncle), Sadie (grandmother) First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #1, (in furry ape form) Amazing Adventures #11, (in current feline form) New X-Men (Vol. 1) #114 History Henry McCoy's father, Norton, worked at a nuclear power plant where he was exposed to massive amounts of radiation during an accident. Norton was unharmed, but the radiation affected his genes, and as a result his son Henry was born a mutant. Unlike most superhuman mutants, Henry showed signs of mutation from birth: unusually large hands and feet. Thanks to his superhuman agility, strength, and speed, Henry became a star football player as a teenager. His remarkable athletic abilities attracted the notice of both Professor Charles Xavier, who was forming the original X-Men, and a costumed criminal named El Conquistador. The Conquistador captured McCoy's parents in order to force McCoy to aid him in his criminal schemes. However, with the help of Xavier and the X-Men, Henry defeated the Conquistador, and he then joined the X-Men, taking the codename "Beast." A brilliant student, McCoy completed his doctoral studies under Xavier's tutelage, and finally left the X-Men and Xavier's school to take a position as a genetic researcher with the Brand Corporation. There he developed a serum that acted as a catalyst for activating latent mutations. On drinking the serum McCoy underwent radical physical changes. He grew fur over his entire body, his ears became larger and pointed, and his canine teeth became larger, resembling fangs. The serum also further increased his superhuman agility, endurance, speed, and strength. Eventually, McCoy left Brand, joined the Avengers, and publicly revealed his dual identity. After years of service with the Avengers (during which he also aided the X-Men against Dark Phoenix), the Beast took it upon himself to reorganize another super-hero group, the Defenders, into a more formal combat organization. His X-Men cohorts Angel and Iceman served in the Defenders along with him, but the team collapsed after a climactic battle in which several other members seemingly perished. Subsequently, the Beast and his fellow members of the original X-Men formed a new organization, the original X-Factor, which publicly appeared to hunt down allegedly dangerous mutants but secretly taught them how to use their superhuman abilities. Shortly after the formation of X-Factor, the Beast was captured by the geneticist Dr. Carl Maddicks, who performed an experiment that caused the Beast to revert to his original, more human appearance. Some time later, however, the mutagenic powers of the mutant Infectia triggered the Beast's return to his furry, more animalistic appearance. After Professor Charles Xavier returned to Earth following an extended period in outer space with the Starjammers, the Beast and his fellow X-Factor founders returned to the X-Men. For years the Beast remained an active member of the X-Men as well as served as a research scientist at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Hank briefly left the school with Storm and her X-Treme team in search of Destiny's diaries. After an attack by Vargas that left Psylocke dead, Beast was gravely injured and returned to the Institute. Hank underwent a secondary mutation that caused him to mutate further into a more feline creature. Beast became very insecure, even feeling that he was devolving into an animal. He finally ended his relationship with Trish Tilby as she was afraid what would happen to her image if she was seen with him in public. After he discovered Cassandra Nova was inhabiting Xavier's body, Nova manipulated Beak into beating Beast into a deep coma. Hank eventually woke up, just in time for Jean Grey and Emma Frost to perform a psychic surgery and keep Xavier alive. Over time, Beast struck up a strong friendship with Emma, even collecting her shattered diamond form and arranging thousands of pieces into place. Falling for John Sublime's trap, Hank uncovered that the human race would be extinct within a few generations. Working hard to keep the X-Men together and solve the human extinction problem, he turned to the drug Kick and got infected by Sublime. Corrupted, Hank causes a chain of events leading the world to ruin. Phoenix disinfects Hank of the Sublime parasite and travels back in time to end the bleak timeline. Hank is still an active X-Men, working with Cyclops on his squad. Beast also has recently questioned his intentions as far as mutants rights goes firstly duriing Kavita Rao's so called cure, then later after the events of House of M. He wonders why he isn't one of the "lucky ones". If he had to remain a mutant, why did he have a power that made him look and sometimes feel like a beast. His recent fear of human emotion has caused him to turn away from long time lover, Trish Tilby, who has finally seemed to find the error in her ways as far as attitude towards his secondary mutation. Due to his experience, intellect, physical abilities and fierce determination ONE considers the Beast a significant threat if a mutant-human conflict emerges in light of recent events. Characteristics Height: 5'11" Weight: 355 lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: (originally) Brown, (currently) Blue-Black Skin: Covered with blue fur. Unusual Features: Covered with fur, unusually large hands and feet, pointed ears, claws, fang-like teeth Powers Strength Level: Beast is strong enough to lift (press) 2,000 pounds. Known Powers: The Beast has superhuman strength, agility, endurance, speed and dexterity. His legs are powerful enough to enable him to leap 14 feet high in a standing high jump, and 22 feet in a standing broad jump. He is able to crawl up brick walls by wedging his fingers and toes into the smallest cracks and applying a vise-like grip on them. He has enough power to smash through a four-inch thick oaken door with a single blow or tie a three-inch solid steel bar into a knot. He has the agility of a great ape and the acrobatic prowess of the most accomplished circus aerialist and acrobat. Ha can walk a tightrope or a slack rope as easily as most people can walk on a sidewalk. He can walk on his hands for many hours, or perform a complicated sequence of gymnastic stunts such as flips, rolls, and springs. He can easily match or top any Olympic record at gymnastics apparatus (such as flying rings, climbing ropes, horizontal bars, trampolines). Further, his manual and pedal dexterity is so great that he can write using both hands at once or tie knots in rope with his toes. The Beast is quite fast, able to run on all four at approximately 40 miles per hour for short sprints. His stamina is approximately triple that of a well-trained athlete in his prime. His physiology is durable enough to permit him to take a three-story fall without a broken bone or stain (providing he lands on his feet). At the time of his further mutation into his present furry form, his metabolism underwent a period of accelerated change. As a side effect, he was able to metabolize and recover from penetration wounds to his body within a matter of hours. Since then, his body's metabolism has stabilized and he no longer has quite such a rapid recovery rate. He is still able to recover from a wound at about twice the normal human rate. His second mutation has also granted him a superhuman sense of smell, rivalling Wolverine's in sharpness. Known Abilities: Henry McCoy possesses a genius-level intellect and is an accomplished scientist and scholar. He is a world-renowned geneticist and is considered a leader in the field of human mutation: a peer of Moria McTaggart, Kavita Rao, and others. He is also an expert in the fields of chemistry, physics, electronics, and computer science. McCoy has a great familiarity with the cannon of English literature and poetry. The beast is an excellent hand-to-hand fighter. While not martially trained, his honed acrobatic skills and feral instincts lend him remarkable grace and talent in combat. Miscellaneous Equipment: The beast posseses a fully-equiped laboratory in Xavier's mansion. Presumably it holds the latest in biological and material analysis devices. It may also contain Shi'ar technology. Transportation: The Beast often travels with the X-Men in thier modified SR-71 Blackbird. Weapons: While known to use heavy weapons, The Beast prefers to fight bare-handed. Notes No special notes. List of Appearances: *Uncanny X-Men #1 - First Appearance *Tales of Suspense #49 - Present with the X-Men when the Angel, whose mind had been corrupted by exposure to radiation from a nuclear explosion, announced that he was leaving the team and joining the evil mutants. Observed the Angel's battle with Iron Man. *Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 - Cameo Appearance Related Articles * See Also * Character Gallery: Beast * Quotes by Beast External Links References * Marvel Directory ---- Category:Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Public Identity Category:Mutant Characters Category:X-Men members Category:Blue Eyes Category:Silver Age